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I don't think they're permanently gone. Assuming it becomes safe to have large gatherings sometime, they'll come back. You're right that there isn't a way to duplicate that environment online.

Although there are some independent conferences that I'm concerned might simply not survive a disruption of a year or two. If SXSW doesn't happen in 2021, they'll surely go bankrupt, and I don't know how easy it'll be to just spin back up in 2022.

The fact that tickets to traditional cons are often limited which creates exclusivity which expands upon the hype of any announcements demos.

The costs involved with a con are obviously a couple orders of magnitude higher than a virtual con, but I don't think the marketing impact is the same at all. Traditional cons are certainly not going away by any means.

This does sound like something a start-up could solve.

Attending a conference from inside a game seems like an interesting hack.